The Princess and the Goblin

Anything in me that is brave, honest, kind, and honourable is due in great part to the many times I read this book when I was young. I loved the characters and the adventures, and the settings of both mountain and palace (especially the mysterious dove tower).

I had forgotten other appealing aspects: the humor, and the excitingly challenging vocabulary words. And, perhaps most appealing, is a part of the story seldom mentioned in the descriptions here - Princess Irene's amazing courage. At age eight, *she* rescued Curdie from the cave where the goblins lived and plotted against the sun-people.

A couple of quotes: We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard [frustrating] not to be. But there is one thing much more show more necessary.... To understand other people."

and, "If a true princess has done wrong, she is always uneasy until she has had an opportunity of throwing the wrongness away from her by saying, 'I did it, and I wish I had not, and I am sorry for having done it.'"

MacDonald made me feel as if I could be a true princess, as he holds much less stock in titles & lineage than in strength of character. And while he's clearly not subtle about sharing his thoughts, he's not annoyingly didactic, either.

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To be entirely fair, this isn't a book I read as a child (wish I had, though). I saw the film as a kid never knowing there was a book, and even after I was introduced to George MacDonald it wasn't till a nostalgia trip looking for the origins of the movie that I discovered this story. I absolutely love MacDonald's work, just so original and fantastic and imaginative, but what I love most of all about it, and which figures in this, is his apparent belief in the union of two people to reach a solution. There is an inherent power that comes from loving someone else, a theme pervasive in his works that, despite all the learned cynicism of the world, still makes my heart flutter a bit and feel hopeful and happy for the characters. Typical of show more this, Princess Irene and Curdie both have their skills and advantages, but they'll only succeed by joining together.

I have to read books like this in private because I get a ridiculously sappy smile on my face whenever this happens. It cramps my style. show less

This classic fairy-tale-style story is set in a land where the Goblins and Humans have had a "cold war" for many, many years. Long ago, the Goblins threatened that some day they will steal a princess...and their day finally comes when Princess Irene's nurse accidentally keeps the Princess out after sunset. Luckily, they are rescued by a miner's boy, Curdie - but now the Goblins know where the Princess lives and what she looks like. When the Goblins hatch a devious plot, Curdie and Irene become fast-friends as they act in turn as heroes. First and foremost, this is a fairy-tale. But it is also an allegory about faith. Princess Irene has a great-great-grandmother - a mysterious and heavenly woman that only she can see. Irene's very-great show more grandmother gives the Princess a magical string and tells her to follow the string whenever she's afraid - never doubting it or deviating from it, regardless of where it may take her. Irene must learn to have faith even when she thinks that the string has led her astray. And Curdie must learn to have faith in a very-great grandmother that he has never seen. This is a sweet story, nice for reading aloud to young children. show less

When I was 100 pages in, my wife and I started reading it aloud to each other. She ended up getting sick that night, and we finished the whole book the following day as she rested and recovered. We were both glued to the book as the action started, and we really enjoyed hearing what happened next to the Princess and to Curdie.

George MacDonald is a delightful storyteller, with the same types of insights that mark C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia--it is no wonder that Lewis regarded MacDonald as "his master."

The goblins almost come across as an oppressed minority - or rather the king and his people are clearly oppressors of goblins. Somehow this charming tale doesn't work quite as meant when it has the goblins being taxed underground and redeemed by becoming brownies. All the verbiage of how one must behave when one is a princess (or prince?) is a bit much too. But the brisk story and the steadfastness of Curdie and Irene remain.

A formative favorite from my childhood; I read it several times then. I'm about due for a reread. After all, given that it's MacDonald, I'm sure it will hold up just fine, if not be even better now.
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And yes it did. At first a bit of hard going, not for me but it must have been for child me and might be for your child. But then I got swept away again and read it in one summer afternoon.

I do not like the copyright page summary, which says Curdie protects the princess. She is at least as brave and inquisitive as he, though more sheltered and four years younger (8 and 12, respectively). And she goes on quite the quest to save *him* at one point, too!

"fear... always sides with the things we are afraid of."

"it is a low and contemptible show more thing to refuse to confess to a fault, or even an error."

(Would that more politicians and internet trolls would have learned that lesson!)

Now, the question is, do I read the sequel? I remember not liking it nearly so much, back then. show less

3.5

George Macdonald's Phantastes is one of my favourite books. This is a different beast, being one of his later works aimed at a much younger audience. He isn't such a well-known name today but he was a great influence on the likes of Lewis Carol, Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and is owed a lot. His 'fantasy' has much more in common with 'fairy tales', but his work acted as a sort of bridge between the two.

The Princess and the Goblin is a charming and simple tale that quickly betrays itself as a children's story with its endearing simplicity. It is written with care and creative readable prose that conjures magic in the mind. I like how MacDonald still drops allegory in a way that can speak to the child but also challenge the adult to think show more a little deeper, nor does he shy from some subtle blows pertaining to the darker side of life. These are handled with absolute care, to a point that a child would only perceive it should they have the maturity to handle it. That's the kind of writing I can admire, even as an adult. Here's such an example:

After they had been alone for a little while, she thought of what she had resolved to ask him.

'Please, king-papa,' she said, 'Will you tell me where I got this pretty ring? I can't remember.'

The king looked at it. A strange beautiful smile spread like sunshine over his face, and an answering smile, but at the same time a questioning one, spread like moonlight over Irene's.

'It was your queen-mamma's once,' he said.

'And why isn't it hers now?' asked Irene.

'She does not want it now,' said the king, looking grave.

'Why doesn't she want it now?'

'Because she's gone where all those rings are made.'

'And when shall I see her?' asked the princess.

'Not for some time yet,' answered the king, and the tears came into his eyes.

The book also houses a touch of Alice in Wonderland, though it doesn't go nearly so deep down the rabbit hole. Carol would have drawn from MacDonald and indeed the latter was instrumental in its publication, but The Princess and the Goblin came after and I dare say he drew a bit from Carol in turn. It's also quite easy to see how this simple story would act as a precursor to the likes of The Hobbit; there's something faintly Tolkien-esque about its rhymes and portrayal of goblins.

A much less likely thing to suggest is the possibility that this influenced H. G. Wells, who was no stranger to fantasy and wrote a couple of stories playing on the tropes himself. The goblin origins described here I thought to be reminiscent of the origins of the Morlocks in The Time Machine (both being a deformed species of human, originating from a lower class that are driven underground and transformed over time by their dark surroundings). The latter was Wells' debut and wouldn't be written until two decades later. That same year Wells penned the lesser known The Wonderful Visit which he wrote of to MacDonald, drawing parallels between his own novella and MacDonald's adult fairie novel, Lilith. show less